Percy Jackson and the Spirit of Civilization
by The Pudding Fiend
Summary: Forgive the lame title; I couldn't think of anything else. Percy learns that the gods aren't the only beings pulling the strings behind the scenes as he gets to know his country in a whole new way.


DISCLAIMER: I don't own Hetalia or the Percy Jackson series.

**SPOILERS:** If you haven't read the final book of the Percy Jackson series, don't read any further. There aren't too many spoilers, but if you want to find stuff out for yourself, read "The Last Olympian" first.

I can't remember the layout of the Big House (-_-;;). Chiron might be kind of OOC; he's hard to write.

* * *

The first gift I received on my 17th birthday was a hit to the gut. Now, I know what you're thinking: getting whammed one in the abdomen can't be _that_ bad. I mean, what with becoming pretty much impervious to any form of damage after taking a dunk in the River Styx, it shouldn't even hurt.

If you're thinking that, then you have obviously never been head-butted by a cat before.

The first thing I noticed when I stepped over the boundary to Camp Half-Blood was the hair. It looked as if someone had tie-dyed Mrs. O'Leary, shaved her bald and dumped her fur all over the place. It was like looking at some weird, furry rainbow. The second thing I noticed was the smell; kind of like what your grandma's car would smell like after it had been out in the sun for a while.

I walked further into camp, rubbing absently at my nose. The fur was getting thicker the closer I got to the cabins and so was the smell. There were small clusters of kids crouched around, most of them girls. The group in front of the Aphrodite cabin were cooing and giggling, bouncing something up and down.

"Hey, what are you guys doing?" I asked, coming closer.

"Oh, hi Percy," replied Bella Irving. She was holding a very disgruntled looking cat, which was sporting several bows and some nice bling. "Look, isn't he darling?"

I covered a smile with a cough. "Um, yeah. Where did you get the cat from?"

She shrugged. "They're all over the place. I'm not sure where they came from, but who cares? They're so cute and we've got all this great stuff to dress them up in! C'mon!" Bella led her little group of campers back into their cabin, their heads bent together as they planned more cat torture. The cat gave one last pitiful mewl, sending me a kill-me-now look as the door shut.

I continued on, stepping over random cats and kittens lying around. I stopped in front of the Hades cabin, considering knocking. Nico lived here all year round, but I wasn't sure if he was in. Despite finally being accepted by the other campers, he was still kind of a loner. He liked to hang out by himself or Mrs. O'Leary usually and when he didn't want to be found, he wouldn't be found.

The door suddenly opened, revealing a very red-nosed Nico. He looked miserable: his eyes were red and puffy like he had been crying, his nose resembled Mr. D's in colour and his cheeks were all blotchy.

"Whoa, you don't look so good, dude," I commented.

Nico sniffed, rubbing his nose. "Yeah, I kind of noticed. Ever since those stupid cats showed up, my nose won't stop running." He sneezed explosively.

"Ouch." I winced in sympathy. That sounded like it had ruptured a few blood vessels at least. "I didn't know you were allergic to cats."

"I didn't know either, until now." He moved to close the door. "Nice seeing you, Percy. I'm going to lie down now, if you don't mind."

"Sure, you do that. I'll see you later." Nico nodded, closing the door. Well, I guess you learn something new every day. Nico was really like a cat in a way: quiet, sneaky, had this way of popping up when you least expected it. It was kind of ironic that he was allergic to them.

I headed to the Big House, which was swarming with cats. I couldn't even see the porch; all I could see was a sea of moving, fuzzy felines. I approached the steps to the porch, trying to decide how to get into the building without stepping on something furry. About 50 pairs of large eyes turned my way at the exact same time, staring at me. I don't know if you've ever been stared at by a cat before, but it's creepy. Being eyeballed by a horde of cats was even worse than that. One cat emerged from the crowd, tail held up like a flag. It calmly walked up to me, sitting down and regarding me like I was a giant mouse that they were planning on eating. I slowly backed away, hands raised in a placating gesture.

Suddenly I was on the ground, breathless. It felt as if my gut had been hit by a sledgehammer. I got up, wheezing. The cat from before was sitting in front of me, looking smug. He turned, mewing to the others. They formed a path to the door, looking at me expectantly. I walked through, definitely weirded out. Did I just pass some feline rite of passage or something? I entered the Big House, keeping an eye out for any other homicidal cats.

"Perrrrrrcy!" Grover hugged me tightly. "You're finally here! Did you notice all of the cats outside?"

"Hi, Grover," I returned his hug. "Yeah, I noticed. I think you'd have to be blind, not to notice them. How have you been?"

"Great! We're actually making a lot of progress in saving the wilderness! We've even got some mortals helping out!" He was practically glowing, a huge smile on his face.

"That's awesome! See, I knew you could do it!" I smacked him on the back, making him wince slightly, although his smile didn't slip an inch.

"Well, I have a lot of help, you know," he said modestly. "It's great that so many people want to help out!"

"But this wouldn't have even started without you, so you've got to give yourself some credit too." I turned to see Annabeth walk up. She grinned. "What? Don't I even get a hello, Seaweed Brain?"

I hugged her hard, a happy little bubble popping up in my chest. I hadn't seen her for a while, since she had gone to stay with her dad. "When did you get here? How was your stay with your dad? What's up with all the cats?"

"Slow down!" Annabeth laughed. "I just got here yesterday; my dad came all the way with me to see me off. I had a lot of fun with him, actually. As for the cats...I should let Chiron explain." She slipped her hand into mine, leading me off further into the building. Grover clopped cheerfully after us, humming a song under his breath. At the big table, Chiron was seated in his wheelchair disguise, chatting with a man holding a snoozing cat.

"Ah, welcome Percy! It's good to see you, my boy. How are you?" Chiron smiled at me warmly. The brown-haired man was looking at me curiously, petting the cat absent-mindedly. He was wearing a brown jacket on his shoulders over a white T-shirt and brown pants. A similarly-coloured hat lay on the table in front of him. His eyes were a grassy green that revealed a sleepy watchfulness, like a cat's. There was a ginormous cross leaning against the table next to his leg.

"It's good to see you too. I'm doing okay; better than Nico, anyways," I answered, watching the man out of the corner of my eye. Mortals couldn't come into Camp Half-Blood without permission, so this guy was probably something else. I wasn't getting a god vibe from him, but I could be wrong. Was he a demi-god?

Chiron winced. "Yes, Nico's reaction to the cats was rather unexpected and unpleasant. I hope he will be alright."

"Where the heck did all the cats come from anyways? They're swarming camp!" I asked.

"I'm afraid that's my fault," I faced the guy with the cat, who looked faintly apologetic. "The little ones like to follow me and I couldn't just leave them outside while I visited."

"It's not a problem, Heracles. It's been quite a long time since you last came over," Chiron reassured the dude, who was apparently _named_ after a demi-god. Was this guy a demi-god? "Many of the campers are enjoying the company of your companions."

"One of your cats nearly made me throw up a lung! No offense," I blurted out. Annabeth snorted, laughing, Grover covering his mouth with a hand. I glared at them. "What's so funny?"

"That would probably be Alexander. He's quite aggressive," Heracles nodded like it was perfectly normal to be informed that your pet just head-butted some random guy in the gut. He focused his attention onto me, looking me up and down. "So, you must Percy Jackson. I've heard much about you from Poseidon. He's very proud of his son, you know."

"Wait, you know my dad? How do you know him? No offense, but—who are you?" I asked, really confused now, although kind of happy to hear about my dad. This guy didn't look like any god that I'd ever seen, but then again, most of the gods that I had met tried to kill me at least once. Not exactly a good chance to get to know your divine relatives.

"You always manage to offend _someone_, Percy, whether you try to or not," Annabeth said, shrugging when I glared at her. "What? It's true."

"Percy, this is Heracles Karpusi. He's come all the way from Greece to visit us," Chiron ignored Annabeth's comment, although his mouth tugged up at the corner.

"It's been a century or two since I've last been at Camp Half-Blood, so I decided to pop in." Heracles explained, with his cat meowing agreement. "Things have changed a bit since then, haven't they?"

"Yes, I suppose they have," Chiron agreed. "It's been a long time since we've had dragon hunts. Those were banned about 50 years back, actually."

"Pity. Those were quite fun to watch," Heracles sighed.

"Er, are you a god?" I asked, feeling two steps behind everyone, as usual.

"Hm? Oh, no. I'm not a god," Heracles looked mildly surprised. "I wouldn't want all that responsibility."

"You have a pivotal role yourself. You are just as important as the gods, I would say," Annabeth said. "I mean, without you, the world wouldn't be the place it is today."

"No, that was my mother. All I do is sign a lot of paper and listen to my boss ramble about economics," Heracles said modestly.

"What are you talking about? How can he be just as important as the gods? Aren't they the spirit of civilization?" I asked, knowing I sounded rude, but not really caring.

"True, the gods are the spirit of modern civilization, but the spirit of the country itself also plays a very important role. How could civilization exist without willingness to change and adapt? Aren't countries constantly transforming with each and every new idea and innovation?" Chiron explained patiently, reminding me of when I was back at Yancy Academy learning Latin from him.

"Okay, that makes sense, but that doesn't explain who he is." I said, still confused.

Annabeth touched my shoulder. "Percy, he's Greece; Ελληνική Δημοκρατία."

* * *

Ελληνική Δημοκρατία means the Hellenic Republic. Greece has a cool motto: Freedom or Death!


End file.
